Lin was surprised for a moment, but then she whacked out with her paddle, trying to catch the ball. It bounced in her region.

“Ace!” Cricket called, sitting on a chair and putting a bowl of chips in his lap.

“You really got prepared, haven’t you?” Lin shouted over the court, her hair standing up from static electricity.

“Lin serves!”

We both grumbled and went back to our positions. Lin served, and I thwacked the ball right back at her – surprisingly, this ball made next to no noise when it was hit – which is why I was running around the court like a madwoman, trying to see where it bounced.

“Is this getting too tiring for your poor little limbs, smelly jasmine?”

“You’ll pay for that snide remark!” I hissed, batting the ball in her direction.

On instinct, she ducked the hurtling projectile, and swore when I got another point.

“Who’s getting tired now?”

“We’ll see about that, Xiaoli!”

Cricket munched on his chips, completely nonchalant.

We both turned around to glare at him.

“What?”